Social welfare has become one of the main policy concerns of the Chinese government over the past two decades. Likewise, researchers have paid greater attention to contemporary China’s welfare arrangements and social inequalities, and recognized the importance to situate the myriad transformations of China’s welfare system, such as the evolving models of welfare provision, within the context of the country’s historical, economic, cultural and institutional settings. Nevertheless, the topic elicits important and fascinating questions. How to make sense of the massive changes that have taken place in China’s welfare system in recent decades? Is China becoming a welfare state and if so, is it residual, conservative, Confucian—or something else entirely different? What are China’s most salient gaps in welfare provision, and what are the key emerging issues and actors of its rapidly changing social welfare system?

The Handbook of Welfare in China, edited by Beatriz Carrillo, Johanna Hood...